Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit (44 page)

“W
e will BE that enemy, and something far worse.”

E
ven Ingersol hesitated.

Naero stumbled
in her fatigue and nearly collapsed.

When she walked, her feet left bloody footprints.

Many in the crowd gasped.

“Someone help her!” a woman cried.

Naero held up a hand and lifted her violet eyes up to them, filled with tears shooting down her face.

“M
y beloved people. Look. If only for once, see with your eyes and your very hearts what is happening to us here. The stark, yawning abyss whose brink we teeter upon. This is our moment of decision. The moment we decide our own fate. Our enemies commit these atrocities. Not us. Are we to join them and forsake all of our sacred ideals, just to become as evil and without honor as they?”

“No! Never!” many cried.

“What is your solution then?” Ingersol snarled.

“
There is only one solution. We must be brave enough to put aside even our just hatred, and do all that we can now to make the landers our allies, as quickly as possible. In order to defeat the common foe. Together.”

“
Absolute folly!”

“I
have had my say. Once I have rested and recovered my strength, I will return to fighting our foes, with every ounce of my blood. With all of my courage and determination. And I say to you that I shall help any who will stand against these foes and fight beside me, whether they be Spacer or lander. I call upon every true Spacer to go forth and do the same.”

“D
on’t listen to her!” Ingersol shouted. “We’ll all die. We must kill them all in order to be safe.”

Naero called to her people one final time.
She pointed an accusing finger at all of their staring faces.

“T
he choice is not his or mine to decide. It is yours, my people. I have made mine. But let me say this. I am glad, that my parents are not here this day. They would have been ashamed to see so many of our kind driven to madness by loss and grief and rage. They would be ashamed to see so many of us even considering such a fall from our great Truths:

Liberty.

Honor.

Justice.

Naero emphasized each word as with a ringing hammer.

“
But if you can do these terrible things. If you can murder zillions of innocent men, women, and children in cold blood, just so that you can feel safe…
then you are no longer my people. And by the names and the honor of my parents, I banish myself from being your blood!”

She drew her cutlass and flung it clattering across the floor as if it were garbage.

The throng gasped, shocked and horrified to the breaking point.

The elders rose up and shouted
in complete refusal.

“N
o, we shall never do such things!”

Ingersol charged Naero from behind suddenly and knocked her down with a heavy two-handed blow
to the back of her head and neck.

She
had no strength to stop him and crumpled to a heap at his feet.

He kicked her as she lay helpless.

The assembly gasped again. Enraged. Many protested, calling for his removal.

Ingersol whirled around, fat, bloated, and sweating
. His hair wild and out of place. A maniac. Shouting and screaming orders like a deranged madman.

Even the soldiers of his command looked confused as to what they should do.
They lowered their weapons in shame and looked sheepishly at the elders for guidance.

“I
’m still in command here! I give the orders. Martial law is still in effect! Obey me or be placed under arrest!”

A very large officer
flashed in so fast he was nothing but a dark blur.

No one believed a
nyone that big could move so fast.

One punch from a massive fist sent Ingersol
’s bulk flying. As if that fist were a block of solid iron.

Ingersol
sailed ten meters into the crowd, to crash among the seats and lay stunned and bloody. No one touched him.

General Walker
rose up, towering over everyone else. A man among men. A true and proven leader among the Clans. His very presence seemed to clear the air and restore order.

He spat on the floor where Ingersol had raved.

“Been meaning to tag that mouthy pad-poker,” he muttered, under his breath. “For years!”

He
stooped and gently scooped up Naero in his enormous arms.

Detachments of marines in full battle dress quickly
moved in, disarming Ingersol’s uncertain, lackluster followers amid cheering from the throng. Ingersol’s dupes offered no resistance and surrendered willingly.

Most of them looked about as ashamed as they should.

“The Laws of the Grand Conclave are hereby restored,” Walker announced. “According to the rule of law and the chain of command. Let all who wish to speak, have their say.

“
And let it also be stated–clearly and for the record–that this young woman is one of the bravest warriors I have ever seen or had the unmitigated joy to serve with. Her honor and valor are without question. Period. Anyone who seeks to insult or lay hands upon her, will answer most dearly to me personally, and to my direct authority, and that of the High Command!”

The elders came forward
, amid the jubilant cheering of the crowds.

Tamerlane Atani
Maeris himself, picked up Naero’s discarded cutlass and first presented it to her. Then he himself kissed the blade and returned it to her sheath in one fluid motion.

He placed one
hand gently upon her face and half-smiled.

“Y
ou’re parents would have been proud, spacechild,” he told her. “You’ve manage to both shame and honor us all at once, in the same day. You reminded us who we are. Who and what we should be, what we should stand for. And what we should do.”

He smiled at her again.

“You are most definitely our blood, and the blood of your mighty mother and father. There is no greater praise.”

General Walker stood Naero back up on her feet, allowing her to lean against him.

“War is upon us,” he shouted. “And so it begins.”

The g
eneral commanded every heart and hand present, still protecting Naero with one arm.

“
Everyone fights. Ever forward, my brave Clans. Prepare for battle!”

54

The Spacer onset took everyone by surprise.

The enemy. The Gigacorps.

Even the Spacers themselves.

The Spacer Clans committed all of their forces to piling in and assailing the Ejjai invasion wholesale and entirely, without hesitation.

On both sides of the border.

On every system, planet, and colony.

They left the
derelict Corps fleets floating behind them in their wake. To refit and restart their own systems and follow in as best they may. As soon as they were able.

The Spacers
abandoned even their own defensive positions. They even left many of their own territories wide open.

And hammered the invaders wherever they could be
found. Sending them reeling.

Trillions of Spacer forces flooded the border systems, fighting with a ferocity and fury that even the vicious
and blood-thirsty Ejjai could not match.

And the bewildered
populations and leaders of the Gigacorps worlds blinked and stared in wonder, that it was in fact the hated spacks that they had been taught and told to fear and hate–and fully hoped to destroy–who came to their succor in the end.

Who
freed them from the horrors of their nightmarish enemies?

It certainly was not the Gigac
orps.

At first the landers trembled in fear that the spacks
they had been conditioned to hate so much came to subjugate and perhaps do even worse things to them than the Ejjai.

But the Spacers showed great compassion. They avenged the dead and crushed the Ejjai invaders in ways that even made the landers cheer them on.

To the helpless they gave comfort and aid. They healed the injured and the sick. To the lost and the down-trodden forgotten, they gave security and freedom. They kept multitudes from starving or going without clean water or shelter.

They used clouds of miraculous fixers to help the ruined cities rebuild
, seemingly overnight. Then they simply drove on.

Both Spacers and landers began calling the war: The Crusade to Save Humanity.
Or simply, The High Crusade.

And spear-heading that crusade were the S
pacer Marines of Bravo Command, armed with amazing new weapons and gear that continued to come online. Out of virtually nowhere it seemed.

Wherever the Ejjai
invaders thought themselves the strongest and the most unstoppable, the Spacer Fleets sent Bravo Command roaring in to stomp the once fearsome enemy into puddles of red, scorched mud.

And
on world after world all across the border, the tales and battle legends abounded about a small Mystic warrior. A young spacechild with blue-black flowing hair and fierce violet eyes, who fought beside the fierce marines all dressed and masked in black armor.

A young girl who fought
the enemy with the strength and speed of a hundred–no–a thousand. She fought the fierce foe with fantastic Mystic abilities, wielding her signature, twin blazing, blood-red katanas.

A warrior who
knew no equal.

Everywhere she went, every place she was spotted, the landers
took heart and cheered in renewed hope. They called after their new legend in awe. In hushed tones.

Landers
made vids about her and her exploits that became wildly popular throughout the known systems. And risked their lives at the front to capture actual vid footage of her in action.

And the legend grew.

Shettana–
The Dark Angel of Death.

Even the Ejjai took up th
e name, screaming it in terror wherever she fought against them.

Shettana.

*

One evening
during a stand down, Naero chose to mix things up.

She wore
a slinky midnight blue evening gown and long matching gloves–instead of her dress uniform–to a formal dinner with General Walker, his officers, and the captains of her fleet.

Nearly ever
y head turned when she entered. Walker smiled and raised a shining glass to her.

“Y
ou clean up well…Shettana.”

Naero grabbed a glass and smirked.

“I do, don’t I?”

“H
alf my officers want to marry you.”

Naero laughed.
“Yeah, and the other half just want me for sex.”

They both cracked up.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Naero
sighed a little, but it was all right.

At times, she did feel
very lonely. Despite all her friends. Still afraid that if she let someone get too close, she might destroy them by accident somehow.

No.
She’d sworn off relationships until she could fully control herself.

“Y
ou did the right thing,” Walker told her. “More importantly, you convinced the Clans to do the right thing. The Crusade was the right way to go. Now the landers have gone from hating us, to working with us and thinking of as their saviors and allies.”

“L
et’s see what they do when we leave.”

“T
hat won’t be for a while. The invaders don’t surrender.”

“Good. Then we can wipe them out.”

Naero clinked glasses with him and smiled.

If only the General wasn
’t so old.

Haisha.
Like enough to be her father.

And happily married
too, with about fifteen kids. Alyssa was a great lady.

But Walker was a great man, and a good guy
. Tough as steel, but fair.

Maybe she could find someone like that
. Eventually.

Someone
her equal.

Some day.

Naero had her pick of dance partners that night.

55

The
brutal war continued, the sweeping tide finally turning against the invaders.

Intel hacked the Ejjai atrocity channels and took them down.

They played vids of Ejjai being defeated and killed all along the battle front in their place.

And every now and then, vid footage of Shettana, the Dark Angel of Death in action.

She had a special message for the Ejjai.

Her ferocious violet eyes filled the vid screens.

Gigantic.

Ejjai dying by the scores reflected in them.

“We’re coming for you all, Ejjai cowards. This is Shettana, the Dark Angel of Death. We will teach you the meaning of fear. Wherever you filth see our flames raining down from the sky, your extermination is coming. Vengeance, is at hand–scum. Fight and die. Or flee and die.

“J
ust die!”

With each world T
he High Crusade liberated, more of the same horror stories abounded.

Meat
ship factories. Clone factories.

Terrified
helpless children shivering and dying in pens like cattle, waiting to be butchered alive and devoured.

Death and atrocity.

Slowly the Gigacorps fleets came back on line and joined the fight.

Coordinating their actions. Fighting right alongside the Spacers.

For once in history, all humanity: Spacers and landers alike rallied together under a common cause. To defend the future of humanity and all the other known races–against a relentless and insidious alien invasion bent on Cosmicide.

Anything the enemy attempted to do, merel
y fueled the fires of that crusade.

The enemy
, it appeared, had made a huge miscalculation.

When the last subjugated Corps world fell, and the last Ejjai horde
lay defeated, crushed, and dead. Naero and Bravo Command were there.

All
of humanity rejoiced and celebrated as a new day dawned.

They seemed to breathe a great collective sigh of relief.

But Naero still felt very uneasy.

Something
remained very wrong.

Shalaen felt it too, but n
either of them could identify what troubled them both so much.

They held a conference with Klyne and several others.

“Where are the aliens and all of their advanced tek?” Naero asked.

“T
hat’s a good question,” Klyne said. “Perhaps they cut their losses. They played their hand too soon. We know it. They know it. The Ejjai are just clones. They can always make more.”

“I
doubt they are that stupid,” Shalaen said.

“W
e’re missing something vital,” Naero said. “Up until now they’ve always been way ahead of us. Why would they simply fade away? Disappear and let their invasion fail, when their advanced tek still might have turned the tide against us?”

“We
’ve yet to find any of their original cloning facilities. If they ever weakened humanity enough, they could renew the war at any time, with very little effort. This attempt may have just been practice. A dry run.”

“
But where are they?” General Walker asked. “Where have they gone? What are they plotting?”

“I
think we’ve caught a break and we should take it,” Klyne said. “Naero, now that The High Crusade is over, we’ve only just begun to hash out issues with the Corps. A process which will mostly take quite a while.

“And for you, Naero,
on a more personal note, all three of the Mystic High Masters are demanding that you to return to them for further testing and training. Good timing. All three Mystic Homeworlds will be open to you to travel to one of them over the next two weeks. I strongly suggest that you do so. The autumnal equinox of the standard calendar starts tomorrow.”

Naero
’s blood felt like it froze in her veins into ice daggers.

“G
ood timing…” she muttered.

She blinked and stared at Shalaen.

Both of their eyes widened in terror. The same fear struck them.

Naero whipped her head back to Klyne.

“The enemy stole secrets from Hashiko’s mind.”

“A
nd mine,” Shalaen said.

“T
hey desperately sought knowledge about both the Mystics, and on temporal manipulation.”

Klyne put it together as well
an instant later.

“T
hey’re going to attack the Mystic Homeworlds.”

“T
he invasion was all just a heavy feint. A distraction. That’s just what the aliens wanted. All of us focused here on the Invasion. Haisha! We’ve played right into their hands!”

Shalaen gasped.
“They’ll capture as many of the Mystics as they can and enslave them all. Suck them dry in those Darkforce generators. What if they capture one or more of the High Masters?”

Even Naero covered her mouth with one hand.

“They’ll have power sources…unlimited Darkforce energy that they can do anything with. Anything.”

“I
’m afraid it gets worse,” Klyne said. “At this time, all three of the High Masters are in stasis, while their minds are in the Astral Plane at an inter-galactic, inter-dimensional conference with other sentient beings from across the universe. They cannot defend themselves. Their physical bodies lie completely helpless.”

“G
et as many fleets there as soon as you can,” Naero said. “I bet those three worlds will fall under heavy siege as soon as the three planets come back in sync. That’s where the aliens will hit us hardest and do their worst.”

Shalaen nodded.
“If they take out the Spacer Mystics, humanity will be set back for centuries.”

“L
eaving us ripe for further conquest,” Naero said. “And our new alien adversaries will use all of that power to make themselves unstoppable.”

Walker studied the tactical reports.

“All they have to do is hold us off for two weeks until the temporal windows close. Then they’ll have three years to finish the job.”

Naero shot to her feet.
“I’m leaving for Janosha this instant. With Hashiko gone, High Master Vane will most likely have only two adepts guarding him and his world. I have to get there. ASAP.”

“T
here are few ships that can jump there fast enough,” Klyne said.

“L
et me worry about that,” Naero told him. “I know a few that can.”

“C
an the High Masters be contacted and told to return their minds to their bodies?” Shalaen asked.

“I
t’s difficult, but we’ll do our best,” Klyne said. “This is an Alpha Negative Priority Emergency. We’ll coordinate orders en route. Let’s move, people!”

He didn
’t have to tell them twice.

Naero and Shalaen
transported back to
The Flying Dagger
and launched their fleet within minutes.

Baeven and
The Shadow Fox
, and Alala, Tyber, and
The Dark Star
could easily join them along the way.

Naero made the urgent distress calls.